International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies Volume 7, Issue 10, 2020, PP 18-36 ISSN 2394-6288 (Print) & ISSN 2394-6296 (Online)

Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

“States are cold monsters who mate for convenience and self-protection, not love”

—Michael Howard1

Dr. John Maszka* Professor of International Relations, Jilin International Studies University in Changchun, China *Corresponding Author: Dr. John Maszka, Professor of international relations, Jilin International Studies University in Changchun, China. INTRODUCTION arises. Third, the two powers compete for geopolitical and economic superiority. Finally, a We are living in the great exception. new power emerges as the uncontested Throughout history (barring our own modern 3 hegemon, and the cycle repeats itself. global order), there has never been a single global international system—hence, there has Contrary to Amy Chua’s claim that there have never before been a truly global hegemon.2 The been several hyperpowers throughout history,4 I title of this article reflects the popular use of the argue that the United States is the first terms superpower and hyperpower. However, hyperpower because as a superpower it there is no wide spread agreement on the possesses global military, political and meaning of these terms. For the purposes of economic leverage never before seen in the conceptual clarity, I offer the following history of the world. explanation. My position also differs from World System The world has seen a number of regional theorists such as Immanuel Wallerstein, who hegemons rise and fall—several of which have argue that Rome and Han China were examples exercised extensive control—but it was not until the Cold War that any one hegemon possessed of world empires. They distinguish world the power of life and death over the entire empires from ordinary empires such as the planet. During the Cold War, there were two British empire in that they monopolized the such powers. The need to avoid a nuclear center of power. But I argue that this was not so. confrontation between the two superpowers How could it have been when Rome and Han turned the Cold War into an ideological war. China were contemporaries that, in all Consequently, the US and the Soviet Union also likelihood, didn’t even know about the other’s dominated the world politically and existence? 5 economically to an extent never before seen. What follows is a brief outline of the history of When the Soviet Union collapsed, all that power continental Asia, Europe and the United States. passed to the United States—and the world’s This is not an exhaustive account, nor could it first hyperpower was born. The new term be in the space allowed. The main reasons for captured America’s role as the only superpower choosing to focus on these areas to the exclusion in the world. No longer would the US be limited of all others are two fold. First, the majority of by an opposing force—the hyperpower would do as it wished—and unfortunately, it has. the world’s population has always resided in Fortunately, hegemony never lasts forever. Asia. Second, I focus on Europe and the United States because no other regions of the world There is a popular international relations have had so great an impact on the modern concept known as long cycles. Although there world as these two. The purpose of this chapter have been both various interpretations and is to establish an historical pattern which we can applications of the construct, the basic idea is then theoretically apply to the future. While no that there are four waves or cycles through which hegemony passes. First, the uncontested one has a crystal ball, I believe that this hegemon begins to decline. Second, a contender approach is the next best thing.

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 18 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

THE ANCIENT WORLD: FROM THE CRADLE with a large class of society suffering downward OF CIVILIZATION AND BEYOND social mobility while a small elite class of hereditary rulers grew rich.11 The story of the ancient world order is a cyclical one—from the city-states of Sumer to the fall of Yale University’s Frank Hole argues that the Roman Empire, the overall pattern has settlement in southern Mesopotamia was a consistently been the progression from a balance response to ―extraordinary environmental of power to a hegemonic system. From the conditions‖ that triggered a ―shift from village- earliest civilizations, local multipolar systems based agrarian societies to complex, urban gave way to hegemony. Once established, the civilization.‖12 These environmental forces hegemon typically expanded to the extent included rising sea levels (the flooding of the possible until a new balance of power emerged. Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the Arabian 13 This cycle repeated itself again and again with Gulf) and climate change. each hegemonic system growing larger and Urbanization increased during the Uruk Period more powerful until there was simply no more (c. 4100—2900 BCE) as populations continued room for expansion—and thus our current to migrate from the countryside and concentrate international system evolved. within a handful of urban centers (Uruk, Eridu, 14 SUMER (C. 5800—1750 BCE) Ur, Nippor, Kish). The city of Uruk became prominent, and kings also began to emerge The patriarch Abraham is recorded as originally during this period.15 Just as the names of the coming from Ur of the Chaldees—one of the rivers and cities are not Sumerian, the names of famed city-states of Sumer located near the Sumer’s earliest kings are not Sumerian either, present-day Persian Gulf. Most people don’t but Semitic.16 realize it, but when Abraham headed out for the land of Canaan, he most likely left behind a Whoever originally founded it, the Sumerian comfortable home in a highly urban center. civilization bequeathed a number of legacies to Located within the lush Fertile Crescent, Sumer the rest of mankind: writing, the wheel, cities, is believed to have been one of the earliest and sailing, trading, agriculture, irrigation, religion most advanced civilizations of the ancient and perhaps its most enduring legacy of all—its world. Based upon the discovery of Chinese hegemonic system of governance. pottery carbon dated at over 20,000 years old, Unlike other ancient civilizations such as Egypt China almost certainly predates it, but the or Assyria, Sumer never became an empire per written records we currently possess point to se. Rather, it was a loose confederation of city- 6 Sumer. I would not be surprised if that changes states—each with its own hereditary monarchy in the foreseeable future. and its own patron deity. What tied these city- According to the ancient Sumerians, civilization states together was their common culture, itself began when the gods descended from extensive trade networks and a complex system heaven to Sumer and created Eridu (present day of government and religion. Abu Shahrein in Iraq)—both the first human The Sumerians were polytheistic, and they city and home to the great god Enki (the god of believed that the earth simply mirrored the 7 wisdom and magic). It’s believed that the heavens. Thus, each city-state belonged to a original settlers of Sumer did not speak the single deity (god or goddess). The king of each Sumerian language. This assumption is based city-state was the recognized representative of upon the fact that the names of the Tigris and its deity. In return for their devotion, the Euphrates rivers (in cuneiform: Idiglat and Sumerians believed that their deity provided Buranun) and the names of most of its urban them with an abundance of food and water and 8 centers are not Sumerian with protection from the elements and from their So, who were these early settlers of Sumer? No enemies. one knows for certain, however, archeologists For me, the most interesting aspect of the have dubbed them the Ubaid people— a name Sumerian religion is the way in which it affected 9 taken from the mound of al-Ubaid. Based upon Sumerian politics. Just as the Sumerians artifacts excavated at the mound of al-Ubaid, believed that the gods struggled among archeologists date the Ubaid Period c. 5800— themselves for domination of the heavens, so 10 4000 BCE. Various grave goods found in they also struggled for hegemony over one burial sites suggest that the Ubaid period another on earth. Therefore, there was endless experienced progressive social stratification, conflict between the kings of the city-states as

19 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers they battled over access to resources and representative on earth, possessed the legitimate hegemony of the land. right to exercise hegemony over the remaining states in the entire region.19 Hegemony didn’t give the king of the ruling city-state the freedom to control the other city- It’s quite possible that influence traveled in both states or to meddle in their internal dealings, directions, as the concept of kingship in Sumer however. Instead, the hegemon served as a began to change c. 2900 BCE. During what is mediator—equipped with the authority to now known as the Early Dynastic Period (c. resolve disputes and wielding the power to 2900—2334 BCE) the Sumerian ensi (priest- enforce a settlement. The hegemon possessed king) was replaced by the lugal (big man). It legitimacy because it was sanctioned as such by was during this period that Sumer witnessed the the priests of Enlil—the chief deity of the rise of the First Dynasty of Lagash (c. 2500 Sumerian pantheon—whose seat of worship BCE). From Lagash, King Eannutum ruled an resided in the city of Nippur. This is not unlike empire encompassing nearly all of Sumer and the Chinese Mandate of Heaven (more on this in territories in bordering Elam.20 Chapter Four). Around 2234 BCE, a Semitic ruler named Thus, while each city-state was governed Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334—2279 BCE) rose up. separately by its own hereditary monarchy, Also known as Sargon the Great, Sargon hegemony over all the city-states was conquered the territories of Mesopotamia— sanctioned via both the Sumerian religion and establishing the Akkadian Empire (c. 2234— the need to maintain some type of order among 2218 BCE). From Akkad, Sargon ruled over all the constantly warring kings. When the time of Mesopotamia and claimed to control all the came that the hegemon either became too weak lands from the Persian Gulf to the to maintain its position or too abusive in its Mediterranean Sea.21 The Akkadian empire was management, other city-states would balance relatively short-lived, however. against it and replace it with a new hegemon. It’s been speculated that the empire collapsed Hearkening back to the matter regarding which due to a 300-year drought in the north where international system was more prevalent, the most of the food was grown. Mass migration to balancers were right in one respect—Sumerian the south emptied cities in the north and city-states did sometimes balance against the exacerbated tensions as people fought over hegemon, but not for the reasons the balancers scarce resources. The Gutians invaded from suppose. Rather than balancing to prevent a modern-day Iran in the north and laid waste to hegemon from emerging, the ancient Sumerians the empire’s major cities. Some of those forced balanced in order to replace the existing to flee the northern region were the Amorites— hegemon with a new one. nomadic herders who moved south for water Extensive trade networks eventually brought the and clashed with local residents who built a Sumerians as Far East as India; as far north as 108-mile wall to keep them out. When the Anatolia, the Caucuses and Central Asia; as far drought ended c. 1900 BCE, the Akkadian west as the Mediterranean Sea; and as far south Empire was ruined, but the Amorites had gained as Egypt and Ethiopia. Via these trade networks, power in Babylon where their most famous Sumerian influences reached out for thousands descendent—Hammurabi—would rule a century of miles in every direction.17 later.22 Trade also brought conflict, both between the Thus, a new era of multipolarity began which various Sumerian city-states and with other would endure until the Assyrian Empire rose to peoples in the region. Chief among the power two centuries later.23 Meanwhile, Sumerians’ many enemies were the Semitic hegemony was taking shape in neighboring empires of Babylon and Assyria.18 These Egypt. civilizations borrowed heavily from the EGYPT (C. 5000 BCE —PRESENT DAY) Sumerians, especially the idea that each kingdom had its own patron deity and that these Egypt shared a similar experience to that of deities battled one another for supremacy both Sumer. Archeological discoveries such as a in heaven and on earth. So, for example when village site in the Eastern Desert (c. 5000 BCE) the Babylonians rose to power, it was more-or- suggest a complex society of farmers, bakers, less accepted that their god, Marduk, had cattle herders, fishermen, sailors, artisans, slaves obtained supremacy over all the other deities. and traders.24 It’s believed that several such Thus, the king of Babylon, as Marduk’s villages sprung up along the Nile, and over time

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 20 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers transformed into city states such as the walled 2600 BCE) was to become one of the fiercest city of Hierakonpolis (c. 3500 BCE)—each with empires the world has ever known. Named after its own religious temples and political system.25 its national god, Assur sat on the west bank of Each city-state is presumed to have had its own the Tigris River—approximately 245 kilometers totem god. As these city states began to unite north of modern-day Baghdad.30 Assur was just into the upper and lower kingdoms, the various one of several Akkadian-speaking city-states totem gods were assimilated into Egypt’s that were pulled into the orbit of the Akkadian pantheon. There is even some speculation that Empire. Following the 300-year drought that these early inhabitants traded with the people of wiped it out, the Akkadian Empire fragmented Sumer via the Red Sea and the Arabian back into its constituent parts until Assyria rose Peninsula.26 up and dominated the region. A stone tablet known as the Narmer Palette (c. Within two centuries, the Assyrian Empire 3000 BCE) depicts the first king to unite upper would dominate the ancient Near East.31 At its and lower Egypt. Narner (also known as Menes) height, the colossus controlled a vast realm founded the first capital city in ancient Egypt— extending east to west from modern-day Iran to Men Nefer—which is better known by its Greek the Mediterranean, and north-south from the 27 name, Memphis. Caucasus to the Arabian Peninsula.32 The ancient Egyptians depended on the seasonal But then, within just a few decades, the mighty flooding of the Nile to irrigate their fields. behemoth was no more—and there is evidence Droughts (caused by volcanic eruptions) quickly that drought and famine may have played a led to crop failure, and famine led to civil 28 significant role. Due to the practice of resettling unrest. conquered peoples, the population of the Egypt successfully absorbed foreign invaders Assyrian capital city Nineveh became (such as the Hyksos and the Nubians) until the unsustainable. During the reign of Sennacherib first Persian conquest when Cambyses II alone (705—681 BCE), roughly 500,000 people defeated Psametik III at Pelusium in 525 BCE. were forcibly relocated. In a predominantly th As a result, Egypt’s 27 dynasty signaled the agrarian society, more farmers meant greater beginning of the end for Ancient Egyptian wealth and prosperity for the empire. However, sovereignty. Although Cambyses II reigned as when a sustained drought began in 657 BCE, pharaoh, Egypt was in fact joined with Cyprus successive crop failures brought the earth’s and Phoenicia as a satrapy of the Achaemenid greatest military power to its knees. By 609 Empire. Egypt briefly regained its sovereignty BCE, Assyria was ripe for the picking, and a in 404 BCE, however, Nectanebo II lost the 33 coalition of weaker powers took it down. Battle of Pelusium to Artaxerxes III in 343 BCE. Once again, the Egyptians forfeited the The progression from multipolarity to throne to the Achaemenid Empire where it hegemony and back would repeat itself would remain until Alexander the Great took it numerous times in the ancient world with the for himself in 332 BCE. Following Alexander’s rise and fall of the Babylonians, the Medes, the death in 323 BCE, the Ptolemies ruled Egypt for Achaemenid Empire, Greece, Rome, the 29 275 years (305—30 BCE). Parthians and the Sassanids.

While the reign of the Ptolemies officially came THE NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRE (C. 626—539 to an end with the suicide of Cleopatra in 30 BCE) BCE, the dynasty’s power had been steadily diminishing for over a decade by drought and Babylon was just a small town in the days of the famine caused by volcanic eruptions. Akkadian Empire, and it became subject to the Widespread famine sparked revolts, forcing the Assyrians once they dominated the region. state to divert funds normally earmarked for Babylon enjoyed a brief period of regional military campaigns to putting down internal hegemony under the famed Hammurabi (c. unrest. As with the Akkadian Empire, the center 1792—1750 BCE), but that quickly faded after couldn’t hold, and power quickly changed hands Hammurabi’s death. Another period of as the Ptolemies fell to the Romans in 30 BCE. Babylonian hegemony emerged in the wake of the Assyrian Empire. Following Ashurbanipal’s ASSYRIA (2025—609 BCE) death in 627 BCE, a string of civil wars Further to the east, Assyria was on the rise. hamstrung Assyrian power. The hegemon that What began as the tiny city-state of Assur (c. had dominated the region for more than a

21 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers thousand years was finally losing its lifeforce, attempts to conquer the Greek city-states were and the vultures began to circle. thwarted until a new hegemon appeared on the scene. The death of Philip II of Macedon (336 Chafing under the Assyrian yoke, Nabopolassar BCE) marked the beginning of one of the most (king of Babylonia) rebelled with a coalition remarkable consolidations of power in history. consisting of the Medes under Cyaxares, the In just 13 years, Alexander became the Persians, the Scythians, and the Cimmerians. acknowledged hegemon of the Corinthian Nabopolassar eventually defeated Assyria— League and conquered the entire Achaemenid taking Nineveh in 612 BCE and Harran in 609 36 Empire. But his reign was destined to be a BCE. Shortly afterward, Nabopolassar died and short one. In 323 BCE, Alexander died at the his son Nebuchadnezzar consolidated the empire age of 32. A civil war ensued, and his vast with his victory at Carchemish in 605 BCE. empire was divided up into four blocs: the Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon was bordered Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt, the Seleucid by the Cimmerians and the Scythians to the empire in Mesopotamia and Central Asia, the north, the Medes to the northeast, Persia on its Attalid Dynasty in Asia Minor, and the southeastern border, the Arab Peninsula to the Antigonid Dynasty in Macedon. south, Egypt on its southwestern border and Lydia to the northwest.34 THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1500 BCE—1453 CE) THE MEDIAN EMPIRE (678—549 BCE) Archaeologists believe that Rome was settled around 1500 BCE. As in other areas, the early The Medes were originally a number of separate inhabitants of Rome established many separate tribes living in the western and northern regions villages. During the Regal Period (753—509 of modern-day Iran. These tribes came together BCE), Rome was ruled by kings. In 509 BCE a to form the Median Kingdom in the mid-seventh group of patricians deposed the king and century. Still a vassal state of Assyria, the declared a republic. By 200 BCE, Rome Medes broke free from the Assyrian yoke under dominated Italy, and over the next two centuries Cyaxerxes (624—585 BCE) and forged the once tiny city-state controlled Spain, France, alliances with both Babylon and Lydia Greece, the Middle East and North Africa, and (Nebuchadnezzar and Croesus each married one Britain. of Cyaxerxes’ daughters). The Median Empire extended from modern-day Iran to the eastern Initially Rome extended citizenship to those it border of Lydia. conquered, but by 265 BCE it discontinued this practice. Newly conquered lands became THE ACHAEMENID EMPIRE (550—330 BCE) Roman provinces, but the inhabitants had no The Persians settled in what is now rights or representation in the Roman senate—in southwestern Iran and eventually fell under fact, many were enslaved. By 100 BCE, domination by the Medes. In 553 BCE, Cyrus approximately one third of the population were the Great led the Persians in rebellion against slaves and 25% constituted the urban poor. the Medes. Cyrus captured the capital city, Riots were frequent. As the senate struggled to Ecbatana, in 550 BCE and pushed west to defeat hold on to power, it named Julius Caesar both the Babylonians and the Lydians. At its dictator for life in 45 BCE (then assassinated peak, the Achaemenid Empire was larger than him a year later). Attempts at recreating a any empire before it, stretching from Eastern republic disintegrated into civil war, and in 27 Europe to the Indus Valley.35 Nearly a century BCE Octavius appointed himself Augustus after the fall of Assyria, multipolarity had again (emperor)—the Roman Empire had begun.37 given way to hegemony. Farther west, nestled Under the reign of Augustus (27 BCE — 14 between the Aegean and Ionian seas, a new CE), Rome dominated the Mediterranean world power was about to take the world by storm. and would continue to do so for another four GREECE (C. 3200 BCE—PRESENT DAY) centuries. But the important thing to remember about Rome (or any ancient empire for that Ancient Greece is yet another example of the matter) is that it never dominated the entire progression from multipolarity to hegemony in globe. Rome always had political rivals such as action. From the establishment of city-states (c. Carthage and Persia—and it probably was not 750 BCE) to the Peloponnesian Wars and even aware of China. beyond, balance of power was the name of the game as various powers vied for political Rome had other enemies as well. Around the hegemony. On the international stage, Persian middle of the second century, climate change in

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 22 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers the form of devastating cold spells triggered classic example of the progression from famines. As if that were not enough, in 165 CE, multipolarity to hegemony (and back again). Roman armies returning from conquest (and/or Several centuries after Alexander the Great merchants arriving along extensive trade routes) conquered the Achaemenid Empire, the Parthian carried with them the Antonine Plague—one of Empire (247 BCE — 224 CE) grew from a the first recorded pandemics in history. By 190 small kingdom in northeast Persia to dominate CE, the death toll reached roughly eight million. an area stretching from modern-day Turkey to Sixty years later, a horrific drought followed by Iran. The Parthians engaged in constant yet another pandemic (the Plague of Cyprian) hostilities with Rome until their last king, scourged the empire for more than a decade. Artabanus IV, died in battle against the The massive death toll caused the crisis of the Sassanids in April 224 CE. The Sasanian third century—a nearly complete breakdown in Empire (224 — 651 CE) succeeded the Rome’s imperial system caused by a lack of Parthians and expanded Persian territory north manpower and especially troops. Usurpers into the Caucasus and Central Asia, east to seized the throne one after another as Afghanistan and Pakistan, and south to include infrastructure began to crumble and enemies 38 parts of Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the eastern breached the empire’s borders. Gulf countries.43 Then Mother Nature dealt the final devastating The Sasanian Empire was one of the great blow. A megadrought around 370 CE forced the powers in the region along with the Byzantine nomadic Huns westward into the Danube region Empire—the Sassanids’ bitter enemy—and the triggering tens of thousands of Goths to cross Aksumite Empire in Ethiopia. These three the Danube into the Roman Empire. Tribes of powers each contended for control of the Goths wreaked havoc inside the empire and 39 Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen via client tribes. even sacked the city of Romein 410 CE. The Aksumites and Sassanids fought a series of Imperial overstretch eventually split the Roman wars and occupied Southern Arabia. The empire in two. By 476 CE, the western half of Aksumites from 525 — 575 CE and the 44 the empire succumbed to invasions from Sassanids from 575–625 CE. Germanic tribes as Odoacer deposed the last Pirates in the Red Sea and frequent wars western roman emperor—a ten-year-old boy between the Byzantines and Sassanids meant named Romulus Augustulus. Nearly a that trade was increasingly diverted to the millennium later, after centuries of war, the overland route from Syria to Yemen in Western Eastern half of the empire fell to the Ottoman Arabia. Mecca grew in prominence as trade Turks in 1453 CE.40 caravans stopped along the way to worship the various pagan deities housed at the Ka’ba. It THE MIDDLE EAST was here in Mecca that a new type of empire While the term, ―Middle East,‖ wasn’t used would be born. until much later, the region has largely become THE RISE OF ISLAM synonymous with the religion of Islam.41 There is no clear consensus regarding its actual In one sense you could argue that the rise of geographic boundaries, but the region is Islam marked the end of the ancient world and traditionally viewed as extending north to the beginning of something entirely new. Turkey, west to Egypt, south to Yemen and east Traditional accounts describe the tribes of to Iran. The Arab world—with language being Arabia as uniting under Muhammad in the years the main unifying element— is equally difficult 630—631 CE. During this period, known as the to define. Year of Delegations, tribal representatives swore their allegiance to the Prophet and his As geographic regions, the Middle East and the newly-created state. However, one could also Arab World are fluid. Their story is one of argue along with Solomon that there’s nothing constant upheaval. The combined inhabitants of new under the sun. Within just two years, the Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Egypt and Libya represent ancient tribal divisions re-emerged. The Arab roughly 5 percent of the total population of the conquests provided a common enemy for a time, earth, and yet the region is responsible for but the cohesion didn’t last. Before long, the nearly 60 percent of the planet’s refugees and Arabs themselves became subjugated by the almost 70 percent all battle-related deaths Turks, the Persians, Berbers and various worldwide.42 The history of this region is a Europeans.45

23 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

The Ottoman Empire rose to prominence in the Tungusic.50 Trade and commerce along the Silk 14th century and dominated the region until its Road connected China to the Achaemenid defeat in World War One (WWI).46 The region Empire via Central Asia. Nomads often then fell under the control of the French and protected trade caravans as they passed through British imperial mandate systems. Much of the the vast expanses of the Great Steppe. Others, political upheaval in the Middle East stems from such as the Mongol tribes, dashed down from the arbitrary borders that were created by the the north and attacked them.51 Sykes–Picot Agreement, the establishment of A Mongol chief named Genghis Khan, the state of Israel, and the continual intervention consolidated the eastern Mongol tribes in the of western powers in the region. In the pages late twelfth century. The Mongols pursued the that follow, we’ll examine how this region came path toward hegemony, and within a century to be what it is today. they created the largest contiguous empire ever An Arab tribe known as the Quraysh ruled to be ruled by a single person in history— Mecca, and this is the tribe to which the Prophet expanding into China, India, and westward all Muhammad (571—632 CE) belonged. the way to Europe.52 Following his conversion to Islam, Muhammad When we think of empire, the first name to consolidated power among the tribes in the come to mind is usually Rome. However, the Hijaz (western Saudi Arabia) and ruled from Roman empire was tiny in comparison. Medina. Covering roughly one million square miles, After his death, the Arab tribes renounced their Rome was a mere fraction of the Mongol treaties with Muhammad. His successor, Abu- Empire which spanned nine million square Bakr (r. 632 — 634 CE), fought the Ridda Wars miles at its height in the late thirteenth century.53 to reconsolidate control over the tribes.47 Umar We can clearly see the progression from (r. 634 — 644 CE) expanded the caliphate multipolarity to hegemony in the history of the northward by battling Byzantine and Sassanid Mongols. We can also see this pattern repeating forces, and in just over ten years his successor, itself today. Most of the modern-day states in Uthman (r. 644 — 656 CE) controlled Palestine, Eurasia and the Middle East were once a part of Syria, Egypt and parts of Libya. By 651 CE, the Mongol realm. After the Mongols sacked Uthman had conquered the entire Sasanid Baghdad in 1258 CE, they moved on to take Empire, and by 655 CE he took Cyprus. His net Damascus and Aleppo. The Mamluks—slaves worth is estimated to have been over $100 who had become the dominant faction in the million.48 caliphate’s military—defeated the Mongols, and Subsequent to the assassination of both Uthman the Mamluk Sultanate dominated Egypt and and his successor Ali (r. 656 — 661 CE), Syria for the next two centuries. The Turkish Uthman’s cousin, Mu’awiya, established the Mamluks ruled from 1250 — 1381 CE, and the Umayyad Dynasty (c. 661 — 750 CE) and made Circassian Mamluks reigned from 1382 — 1517 Damascus his capital. Mu’awiya’s son, Yazid, BC.54 succeeded him, and from that time on, the THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1299— 1923 CE) position of caliph was hereditary. The Abbasid Dynasty (c.750 — 1258 CE) overthrew the The Ottoman Empire had its humble beginnings Umayyads and transferred their capital to in northwestern Anatolia. Founded by a Turkish Baghdad. At its height, the caliphate extended tribal elder named Osman I in 1299 CE, legend from Spain to the borders of China (excluding has it that the Turkish tribes in the area had fled the Byzantine Empire). By the middle of the their ancestral homeland in Khurasan (modern tenth century, the Abbasid’s had forfeited day Afghanistan, southern Tajikistan and territory to a myriad of other dynasties northeastern Iran) to escape the Mongols.55 At (Tulunids, Fatimids, Ghaznavids, Uighurs, its height under Suleiman the Magnificent (1520 Seljuks, Ayyubids). In 1258 CE, the Mongols — 1566 CE), the Ottoman Empire spanned sacked Baghdad and continued westward toward three continents and controlled much of the Aleppo and Damascus49 Mediterranean Sea. Over the next four centuries, it would lose much of this territory and THE MONGOLS AND THE MAMLUKS ultimately be partitioned following it While not much is known about the Mongols catastrophic loss in WWI. For much of this prior to the twelfth century, the Mongolian period, its two arch enemies were Russia and language is closely related to both Turkish and Austria-Hungary.

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 24 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

In the west, we’re largely taught that World War create a defensive barrier against would be One (WWI) brought about the end of the invaders (particularly the Mongols). Later in the Ottoman Empire—and in some respects this is mid-16th century, Ivan IV expanded Russian true—the Great War certainly drove the last nail claims as far south as the Caspian Sea and the into the coffin. But a more realistic Caucasus Mountains—and as far east as the interpretation of history needs to also take into Urals. Finally, in the 18th century, Russia consideration the important geopolitical position expanded westward into Ukraine and the the Ottoman Empire occupied at the hub of Carpathian Mountains, extending its western Europe, Asia and Africa at the time. Such an border to the Baltic Sea.58 interpretation recognizes that the inability of Since both the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean Constantinople to maintain the territorial are frozen six months out of the year, the need integrity of the empire largely created the for access to a warm-water port drove Russian political instability that caused WWI in the first expansion further south—this, of course, led to place. As the Ottoman legacy slowly slipped conflict with the Ottomans who historically into decline, the surrounding states faced the controlled access to the Black Sea. By the Eastern Question—who would inherit the real nineteenth century Russia claimed full control. estate left behind? However, it still needed access to a warm-water Russia strongly supported Balkan nationalism port.59 due to desire for access to the Mediterranean In order to access the Mediterranean, Russian and also because of its defense of pan-Slavism. ships needed to navigate the Turkish Straights. Austria-Hungary, on the other hand, feared This is still largely the case today.60 The Turkish Balkan nationalism due to its own multiethnic Straits include the Dardanelles, the Bosporus composition.56 and the Sea of Marmara. This is the only The resulting struggle to acquire Ottoman lands maritime passage connecting the Black Sea with (or to prevent a rival from doing so), largely the Mediterranean Sea (by means of the created the strife that led to the First World War. Aegean). From the Mediterranean, Russian So rather than view WWI as the cause of ships can access the Indian Ocean (via the Suez Ottoman demise, the facts on the ground reveal Canal) and the Atlantic (through the Straits a more complex reality—the slow decline of the ofGibraltar). Ottoman Empire actually caused WWI. Competition for control of these waterways has We can look at the decline of the liberal been fierce. Following the Turkish War of international order in the same way. Rather than Independence, the Lausanne Agreement (1923) waiting and wondering which singular event demilitarized the Turkish Straits and allowed for will break American hegemony, we need to the passage of foreign vessels.61 In the years recognize that it is actually the slow decline of leading up to WWII, Turkey became concerned US power that is opening up political space for about its security. The Montreux Agreement would be contenders. A future war may be the (1936) restored Turkish sovereignty over the final nail in the coffin. However, just as with the straits.62 Ottoman Empire, the war will not be the cause of American decline—it will be the result of it. During WWI, Russia hoped to acquire Constantinople and control of the Straits. In fact, RUSSIA Britain and France had secretly promised to give Russia began as a small group of people in the Constantinople and the Straits to Russia as Mongol Empire on the Eurasian plain.57 spoils of war.63 Had it not been for the Emerging as an independent state in the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia might well have fifteenth century, Russia found itself a victim of acquired its long-coveted prize. British and its geography. Lacking natural defenses, Russia French disingenuousness aside, Lenin formally has been the victim of countless invasions— acknowledged the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, primarily from the steppes to the east (the path and subsequently relinquished any and all that the Mongols used) and the North European claims to the Straits.64 Plain to the west (the route through which the Teutonic Knights, Napoleon and Hitler all Stalin obviously felt differently—constantly entered Russia). asserting Soviet claims to the Straits, and even considering taking them by force and Russia’s initial response (in the late 15th establishing a Soviet military base to protect century) was to expand north and northeast to them.65

25 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

Politics being what it is, on a dark October exceptional sailors and fierce naval combatants. evening in 1944, Churchill met with Stalin in The Ripuarians settled along the Rhine in the Kremlin and secretly agreed to the post-war modern-day Northwest Germany. They were division of the Balkans. Stalin also insisted on a expert in land warfare.70 modification of the Montreux Agreement that The history of the Franks is typically divided allowed Soviet warships to pass through the into the Merovingian Period (481—751 CE) and Straits in times of both war and peace.66 When the Carolingian Period (751—987 CE). Clovis I Churchill informed FDR about Stalin’s demand, (466—511 CE) eventually consolidated Roosevelt was opposed to making any major Merovingian control over northern Gaul and the revisions to the Montreux Agreement and central region of the Rhine river valley. Roughly decided to ignore the issue—hoping it would not two centuries later, Charles Martel (688—741 come up again. But Stalin pressed the matter CE) managed to consolidate Carolingian power. again at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Martel was succeeded by his son Pepin in 751 On the one hand, Stalin had a legitimate CE, and later by his grandson, Charlemagne in concern. The Montreux Agreementgave Turkey 768 CE.71 Pepin and Charlemagne vastly the authority to close the Straits in either the expanded the Kingdom of the Franks to include event of war or the threat of war. Russia the territory of modern-day France, Germany exported seventy-five percent of its grain and the former Papal lands of Northern Italy.72 through the Straits via the Black Sea. Since We tend to think of concepts such as grain represented roughly 40 per cent of nationalism, sovereignty and territoriality as Russia’s total export trade, the Straits were both synonymous with the modern nation-state. In militarily strategic and vital to Russia’s growing 67 fact, the Westphalian nation-state system has economy. This put the economic future of the become so ingrained in our minds that —like a Soviet Union in Turkish control. On the other hand, British concerns over possible Soviet fish in water—it’s difficult for most people occupation of the Suez Canal were also today to imagine any political order other than legitimate.68 the current one. But this was not always the case. Medieval Europeans tended to identify Following the end of the WWII, Moscow again with a variety of smaller institutions such as pressured Turkey to allow Soviet ships to pass their local church parish, their city—or if they through the Straits. When the Turkish were a craftsman—their guild. These local government refused, Stalin responded with a institutions, in turn, belonged to larger naval show of force—culminating in the organizations such as the Roman Catholic Truman Doctrine and Turkey’s application to 69 Church, the Hapsburg Empire or the Hanseatic join NATO. League73 Russia continued to expand eastward and The quest for hegemony in Catholic Europe southward—gobbling up the former territories presented itself via the doctrine of of the Turks, Mongols and Tartars of Central Universality—a medieval concept that Asia—until military overstretch and economic essentially modeled global governance after the exhaustion caused the Soviet Union to collapse, pattern in heaven. It was a trinity of sorts, with leaving a myriad of independent republics in its one God in heaven, one emperor to rule the wake. The Montreux Agreement continues to world and one pope to rule the Church. govern passage through the Turkish Straits—a Universality attempted to harness the power of point that was driven home in 2008 when the Roman Empire via the Roman Catholic Turkey denied passage to US warships Church, and for a time it did just that.74 following the South Ossetia War. The Holy Roman Empire (800—1806 CE) EUROPE reigned over portions of Western and Central After the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 Europe for ten centuries before it was dissolved CE, a number of Germanic tribes competed for by the Napoleonic wars.75 Even still, it wasn’t control. The Franks were amongthe Germanic until the Hapsburg Emperor, Charles V, peoples that began to attack the Roman Empire ascended the throne in 1519 that the universal around 257 CE. The Franks consisted of two claims of the Holy Roman Empire could be main divisions, the Salians and the Ripuarians. realized. Under Charles V, imperial authority The Salians, who settled in modern-day extended across a vast Central European realm Netherlands near the North Sea, were including modern-day Belgium, France, the

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 26 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

Netherlands, Germany, Northern Italy, Austria, kingdom). Louis XIII was also married to Anne Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.76 of Austria; the daughter of Philip III of Spain. Philip III was both the grandson ofthe Holy The Reformation, sparked by Martin Luther in Roman Emperor Maximilian II and husband to 1519, created a religious schism between Margaret of Austria; the Holy Roman Catholics and Protestants. Without universal Emperor’s sister.81 agreement regarding the one true church, there could be no one monarch or pope to represent Pretty much the entire ruling class of Catholic all of Christianity. Once Protestant princes Europe at that time was a tangled incestuous broke with the concept of religious web of Habsburg royalty. Nevertheless, homogeneity, they challenged the concept of Richelieu entered into an alliance with the universality as a whole and no longer saw Protestant princes, and France fought against the allegiance to the emperor as a religious or Holy Roman Empire in the Thirty Year’s War. political duty.77 By aligning French forces with the Protestant Ferdinand II (1578—1637), Emperor of the princes of Germany and Sweden, Richelieu Holy Roman Empire, attempted to extend managed to weaken the Holy Roman Empire Hapsburg imperial control over all of Central and obtain his main objective—establish France Europe, enforce Catholic universality and put as the dominant European power. In the down the Protestant princes. By 1618, much of centuries that followed, European empires the Holy Roman Empire was caught up in a would rise and fall in the name of national religious civil war between the Catholics and the interest. Protestants. What would eventually be known as The 1789 French Revolution started a fire that the Thirty Years War raged on until 1648, 78 threatened to consume all of Europe in leaving Central Europe devasted. revolutionary fervor. The conflagration lasted With the age-old global order in question, the until 1815 and engulfed nearly the entire emerging European states needed a new continent. By 1792, France’s newly-formed principal by which to regulate international Legislative Assembly initiatedwhat it thought relations. They found it in raison d'etat and the would be a quick and decisive war against balance of power system, which emerged from Austria (famous last words). Louis XVI (1774— the ashes of universality. Raison d'etat replaced 1792) —the last Bourbon king of France—and the morality of universality with the national his wife, Marie-Antoinette interest. Basically, rather than pledge allegiance (Austrianarchduchess and daughter ofHoly to a monarch with universal authority, each state Roman Emperor, Francis I) were executed for would pursue its own selfish interests. The first treason in 1793.82 state to take the lead in this new order was France. France fought five separate coalitions that allied against it: the Third Coalition (1803—1806),83 Ironically, the main architect of France’s new the Fourth Coalition (1806—1807),84 the Fifth strategic approach was Armand Jean du Plessis Coalition (1809),85 the Sixth Coalition (1813)86 (aka Cardinal de Richelieu), the first Minister of 87 France (1624—1642) and also a cardinal of the and the Seventh Coalition (1815). Some refer Catholic Church. Richelieu served as Chief to the Napoleonic Wars as the first world war Minister under Louis XIII (the father of Louis because they claimed a combined total of over XIV—the Sun King), and he was tasked with two million lives and ushered in the congress overseeing French foreign policy.79 system—the first alliance system of its kind in Europe.88 Richelieu is noted for being among the first European diplomats to prioritize national Following Napoleon’s defeat, the powers that interests over religious or dynastic preferences. successfully balanced against him met regularly Rising to power at the height of the Thirty Years with the goal of preventing any future War, Richelieu quickly realized that a strong revisionist state from trying to dominate Europe Holy Roman Empire posed a grave geopolitical again. After the congress system failed to threat to France (which was literally surrounded prevent Germany from making two unsuccessful 80 by Catholic Hapsburg lands). attempts at hegemony, the League of Nations Louis XIII was both the king of France (1610— (and later, the United Nations) picked up the 1643) and—as Louis II (1610—1620)—he was torch to discourage domination of the continent the king of Navarre (a Spanish Habsburg by any one power.

27 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

Many attribute the carnage of WWI to the secret As European unity grew stronger, Europe treaties and cobweb of alliances so typical of the became more independent regarding economic old diplomacy that prevailed during the century and trade matters. Eventually, the US began to that preceded it. Woodrow Wilson’s League of lose political influence on the continent as well. Nations was a decided effort to achieve peace The entire relationship was going through via supranational means by replacing the old transition. Ironically, just as the American system with a new form of diplomacy centered colonies once demanded representation in the around the concept of collective security. The British Parliament, as Europe prospered, the Treaty of Versailles included a provision for the Europeans demanded more representation in League to serve as a mechanism to enforce American decision-making as it affected collective security.89 international affairs. The Treaty of Versailles was a miserable failure, However, the American argument was that as WWII quickly demonstrated. Even though Europe continued to prosper precisely because Wilson personally negotiated the terms, the US of the protection it enjoyed under America’s Senate denied consent to the Treaty by a vote of military umbrella (which US taxpayers 39 to 55. It wasn’t until 1921 that the US signed provided). Therefore, Washington’s response the US-German Peace Treaty.90 was that if Europe’s wealth entitled it to greater influence, it should also require it to bear a Wilson’s dream of collective security did larger share of the burden. This same argument eventually come to fruition with the remains at the heart of US-EU relations today. establishment of the United Nations. The reason most often cited as the cause of the League’s For the past 75 years, European security has been largely divorced from European failure was a lack of centralized power. 93 Therefore, the permanent five members of the diplomacy. Particularly since the demise of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) were Soviet Union, a new style of conference diplomacy replaced the older form of congress specifically invested with the power to veto diplomacy, resulting in an increased number of resolutions passed by the General Assemble. technocrats supplanting the previous cohort of More importantly, Chapter VII of the UN professional diplomats. Environmental issues Charter grants the UNSC exclusive authority to and trade negotiations superceded Europe’s ―determine the existence of any threat to the centuries-old preoccupation with conquest and peace‖ and to ―make recommendations or domination (e.g., Spain in the sixteenth century, decide what measures shall be taken… to Austria in the seventeenth century, France in the maintain or restore international peace and eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and security.‖91 Germany in the twentieth century). Ironically, In the initial years following WWII, Europe was the home of collective security’s greatestest entirely dependent on US economic and military advocate would also be the next state to attempt assistance. The bipolar structure of the Cold to take over the world—and this one would War—and the American nuclear guarantee— succeed. resulted in a European withdrawal from most THE UNITED STATES miltary decision-making. But the costs of empire are extensive. The story of American expansion is far from glamorous. After nearly exterminating the local America’s total share of world GDP dropped 92 inhabitants of the land, European settlers from about 50% in 1945 to 35% in 1969. occupied the continent all the way to the Pacific Meanwhile, the European share of total GDP Ocean. Pacification of the land meant killing was rising. As the European continent slowly Native Americans and putting up fences to recovered from the two world wars, US protect their rightfully stolen property. economic assistance to the region naturally Pacification also meant planting crops, but the tapered off. By 1960, US economic aid to new American farmers needed fertilizer. While Europe was a thing of the past, and military American forces had been engaging foreign assistance also began to decline. By the mid- militaries since the war for independence,94 US 1970s, the population of the European imperialism beyond the continent actually began Community exceeded that of the United States with a quest for fecal matter. Between 1867 and and Europe’s productive capacity roughly 1903, the US annexed the Guano Islands—94 equaled that of the US. islands covered in bird droppings.95

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 28 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

Another immensely important factor influencing Japanese War.104 A year later, the US the decisions of American states men at the time participated in the Moroccan conference in involved European colonialism. The infamous Algeciras.105 By1917, the US had assumed Berlin West Africa Conference (1884—1885) center-stage in global politics.106 A year later, established the ground rules for how the US President Woodrow Wilson bilaterally European powers would divide up Africa.96 A negotiated peace with Germany. Think about decade later, the partition of China was on the this. Just twenty-five years earlier, the United table for discussion.97 What if the Caribbean and States of America had just been awarded an Central America were next? embassy by the leading hegemon. Now, it was deciding Britain’s fate. America was in the early Mahan’s 1890 release, The Influence of Sea stages of its meteoric rise—and it was soon to Power upon History, 1660—1783, definitely engage in its subsequent fall. made its impact on US foreign policy.98 However, policy-makers had been wrestling In 1938 the United States spent roughly $1 with the threat of European expansion into the billion on defense, it had no formal military western hemisphere since at least a decade alliances, and it only stationed troops on earlier.99 The planned construction of the territory it controlled. Twelve years later, the US Panama Canal invited apprehension over the defense budget exceeded $50 billion with possibility of it falling under the control of a American troops stationed at 450 bases in thirty- strategic competitor.100 six countries around the world.107 Of particular concern was the island of Cuba. By 1945 the US dollar had replaced the British The Spanish colony was in a nearly constant pound as the international reserve currency, and state of rebellion, and it offered the temptation the United States claimed a full 50% of world of low-hanging fruit to any European power GDP. This is absolutely astounding! In roughly strong enough to snatch it out of Spain’s fifty years, the US rose from a back-water state weakening clutch. Rather than allow such a to a global superpower. The comparisons with scenario to unfold, the US intervened. The China over the last four decades simply cannot Spanish-American War (1898) can be viewed as go unnoticed. an early example of US imperial expansion or it It has been roughly forty years since the United can be looked upon as primarily defensive in States established diplomatic relations with nature. While both positions are technically China. In those four decades, China has grown accurate, we cannot ignore the fact that no less spectacularly than the US did—and the Washington also acquired the Philippines, writing is on the wall. China is assuming its Puerto Rico, and Guam; occupied Cuba; and annexed Hawaii and American Samoa.101 place in the center of the global system, with or without US approval. Still, it’s necessary to put all of this in its proper historical context. It wasn’t until 1893 that the We have all heard of the golden rule—whoever British Empire considered the United States owns the gold makes the rules—and in 1945, the important enough to merit an embassy. Prior to United States held the largest share of gold. Not that time, the US was very much on the surprisingly, the US rolled out an economic periphery of international affairs—but this was system based upon its own political and about to change. ideological foundations—and one that represented its own unique geopolitical The Spanish-American War (1898) was just the interests. opening current. America was about to assume its position centerstage. In 1903, Theodore At the heart of this new world order, a network Roosevelt introduced his Big Stick approach to of international organizations dictated how the US foreign policy—essentially stating that world would be governed. Policies regarding America would protect its interests abroad—a everything—from the conduct of war to the policy Roosevelt upheld by stationing US most banal details of peace, trade and currency Marines in Panama that same year.102 The 1904 exchange—were imposed upon the member Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine states of the United Nations (UN), the North announced that the US would intervene in any Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the conflicts arising between a European power and World Bank (WB), the International Monetary a Latin American state.103 In 1905, Roosevelt Fund (IMF) and the General Agreement on hosteda peace conference in Ports mouth, New Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which became the Hampshire, mediating the end of the Russo- World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995.

29 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

Washington employed its superior air and naval Administration overthrew Guatemala’s power, backed by its nuclear advantage, to democratically elected president, JacoboÁrbenz, police the global commons and thereby ensure and replaced him with a military dictator, Carlos the safe transport of goods and services. Castillo Armas. What was Árbenz’s crime? Meanwhile, Wall Street imposed its own unique Land reforms granting property to peasants and brand of economic policies across the globe to labor laws that protected the poor. remove any and all barriers to the US-led Why should the United States care about land capitalist world order. reforms and labor laws in Guatemala in 1954? Contrary to popular belief, this new world order While it’s true that a few of Árbenz’s advisors was not based upon free-market capitalism. were a little more left of center than US Cold Quite the contrary, it replaced the free-market War foreign policy might have preferred, this capitalism of the previous era with a brand of was not the main issue. A little digging reveals state capitalism never before seen—a kind of that both John Foster Dulles (U.S. Secretary of democratic fascism that naturally emerged from State) and Allen Dulles (Director of Central the totalitarian chaos of the Second World War. Intelligence) had considerable economic interests in the United Fruit Company which This new order favored US corporate interests in suffered substantial losses due to Árbenz’s land every way, and US economic assistance was reform policies.110 So, the Eisenhower never given without substantial strings attached. Administration used the threat of communism to In Europe, French regional trading blocs were replace a democratically elected government dampened to allow greater American access to with that of a brutal dictator. So much for French markets. Likewise, the British were democracy and human rights. forced to make the pound convertible with the dollar and to remove restrictions on US Ironically, it was in the states where American imports.108 Beyond Western Europe, American neoliberal economic policies were imposed that state capitalism voraciously preyed upon people suffered the most egregious form of vulnerable populations. human rights violation—unnecessarily imposed abject poverty. The World Bank (WB) offered The average observer would really have to try hundreds of millions of dollars in development hard to miss the blatant hypocrisy in American loans to impoverished countries―money that foreign policy over the past 75 years. The would literally go directly back into the United States promoted democracy and human industrial elite’s pockets as they secured the rights— via dollar diplomacy and membership construction contracts. These development in American-controlled international projects almost never benefitted the local organizations—everywhere that US corporate population. Rather, the loans were used to build interests required. But democracy and human infrastructure necessary for commerce and rights were never important considerations in industry so that American corporations could and of themselves. Instead, they were always operate there. Worse yet, these projects often just a means to an end. As long as US corporate displaced thousands or more in the name of interests remained unimpeded, a state’s progress. Nonetheless, the debt burden for these domestic politics and human rights record were projects was placed squarely upon the shoulders non-issues. But whenever American commercial of those displaced, as well as on their children. interests were threatened, such threats were removed without the slightest hesitation— Likewise, the International Monetary Fund regardless of the state’s domestic politics or (IMF) stabilized currency exchange rates— human rights record. making international commerceless volatile for American corporations. Meanwhile, the UN I could offer many examples to substantiate this outlawed war and the WTO outlawed trade point, such as when the democratically elected wars―both making the world a safer place for Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh decided US state capitalism. to nationalize Iran’s oil. The CIA (with the Like pieces on a chess board, each organization cooperation of the British Secret Intelligence had its own unique role to play in securing the Service) orchestrated a coup to overthrow American world order. The UN stripped Mosaddegh and install the puppet regime of member-states of the power to declare war, the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1953.109 WTO eroded much of their power to impose Another example occurred in 1954—on the trade barriers against American corporations, other side of the world. The Eisenhower and the two lending organizations (WB and

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 30 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

IMF) imposed strict limitations upon recipient allows it to borrow heavily from other countries. governments―eventually insisting that they Massive debt has afforded the US the ability to become neoliberal democracies and privatize the live far beyond its means, for a time—and majority of their public sectors. during that time, America has converted itself into a national security state. In order to receive much-needed loans, governments around the world were forced—not We have to ask ourselves why it is that no one only to democratize—but also to privatize many has yet attempted to balance against the United of the public goods and services that had States. In the three decades since the end of the previously been provided freely or at discounted Cold War, neither China, Japan, India Russia prices by the state. Privatization equated to nor the EU have challenged the US-led enormous profits for American corporations as international order. But then again, why would private schools, hospitals and banks sprung up they? As long as the US provides the public overnight. Meanwhile subsidized food, fuel, goods that allow other states in the system to education, and medical services—along with thrive, how would balancing advance their many other necessities—disappeared from sight, interests?111 Still, how long can this arrangement leaving billions to languish in unmitigated last? suffering. The 2007-8 debt crisis was a game-changer in Ironically, privatization has been equally as many respects. The resulting Great Recession devastating to the United States. Private had a detrimental impact on several European shareholders of international corporations (who countries. The European sovereign debt crisis may or may not even be American citizens) began in Iceland with the collapse of its banking prioritize profit over civic responsibility. system in 2008. It then spread to the continent Therefore, corporate board members find where Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain themselves under enormous pressure to produce (PIGS), all faced serious economic realities.112 acceptable quarterly reports at basically any Investor confidence plummeted, and lenders cost. began to demand higher interest rates which SECOND WIND OR LAST GASP OF BREATH? only further devastated these cash-strapped Many are debating the current trajectory of the economies. Other European states began to fear American empire.Is decline (like death and for the fate of the Euro itself, and so certain taxes) inevitable? I think the answer to this measures were incorporated to minimize the question lies within the question itself. Some damage with financial guarantees. These may have successfully cheated the government, guarantees were contingent upon the recipient but I do not know of anyone who has managed countries agreeing to adhere to strict measures to cheat death—empires included. Death is of austerity. Meanwhile, rating agencies simply a part of life (at least for now). Still, like downgraded the debts—to junk status in some 113 the Steven Pinkers of the world who would have cases. us believe that life is somehow different today, Many economists trace the European sovereign there are also those who have convinced debt crisis back to the US housing bubble and themselves that the US can somehow avoid the American overreliance on inflated asset prices fate of every other empire that has come before to fuel demand. Even though the world has it. somehow managed to dodge the bullet, at some The 1980s witnessed a shift in economic policy. point, America’s rising debt will negatively Many governments abandoned their impact investor confidence to the point that the commitment to full employment and pursued a US will no longer be able to borrow to meet its new model of economic growth. Rather than needs. When this happens, its ability to patrol allowing wages to drive demand as they had the oceans, safeguard the commons, manage done under the Keynesian approach, the new conflict and maintain a functioning reserve model substituted increasing amounts of debt currency will be compromised. This has and asset price inflation to drive consumption. happened to countless empires in the past. Full employment and minimum wages were In the sixteenth century, the Spanish monarchy now treated as the causes of inflation, and was so far in debt that at one point the interest therefore, as the enemy. payments alone exceeded its normal revenue.114 For more than seven decades, the United States France found itself in similarly dire economic has been able to leverage the dollar in a way that circumstances on the eve of the French

31 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

Revolution, as did the Ottoman Empire in the Strategy (NSS) answered the first question, and nineteenth century and Great Britain in the the 2019 Navy Force Structure report answered twentieth.115 the second.122 ―Every year, competitors such as China steal U.S.intellectual property valued at Within a decade or so of the Yalta Conference hundreds of billions of dollars.‖123 Trump made (where Winston Churchill met with FDR and Stalin to decide the fate of warn-torn Europe), it clear that his administration views the threat Great Britain lost much of its imperial to America’s technological advantage as a possessions.116 A similar (if not quite so rapid) national security threat, and that the US will decline has been taking place in the United treat it as such. ―America's competitors States since it began having balance of weaponize informationto attack the values and payments problems in the 1960s.117 Balance of institutions that underpinfree societies, while shielding themselves from outside trade problems followed in the 1970s and by the 124 1980s, the US had become a net debtor information.‖ The 2017 NSS establishes in no country.118 uncertain terms that the Trump administration was prepared―to protect Americans Today, America is facing a new challenge— againstsophisticated challenges to national China. China’s ability to attract western security.‖125 The Biden administration’s position manufacturing has afforded it the opportunity to on this issue remains to be seen. prosper at the average American worker’s expense. Lost American jobs equate to social Those who think that US hegemony will last mobility for Chinese workers and profitable forever and ever are in for a very abrupt quarterly returns for transnational corporations surprise. Just as Great Britain declined in less operating in the People’s Republic. This than a quarter of a century, we can expect to see arrangement has a geopolitical aspect to it as a major global power shift during our own well. Not only has industrialization made China lifetimes. I sincerely hope that the US will an economic powerhouse, but the de- possess the wisdom and grace to pass the baton industrialization of the western powers has also peacefully as Great Britain chose to do. significantly diminished their tax bases, and America’s current relationship with China very therefore, their economic and military footprint much appears to be that of a scorned as well. codependent partner, lashing out against a 126 Enter Donald Trump and his campaign promises former lover that has moved on. China is to impose tariffs against China—which he evolving beyond export-led growth—and hence subsequently made good on beginning in 2018. its dependence upon the United States’ consumer market—and it is transitioning into an Trump increased tariffs by 25% on some $250 127 billion in imports from China. The net result is economy based upon consumer-led growth. decreased bilateral trade which—no matter how What does this transition equate to for the you package it—is bad news for both players.119 United States? The ramifications are multiple. The ―tech war‖ is proving to be much more First and foremost, China’s transition to damaging to China, at least for the moment, as consumer-led growth naturally increases its debt to GDP ratio—leaving less discretionary income China currently spends more to import 128 semiconductor chips than it does to import oil. to invest in US treasury instruments. As Chinese household consumption increases, However, Beijing is working its way around this savings will decline. On the flip side of this obstacle as well. Its ―Made in China 2025‖ coin, the US will have to find another received a huge impetus when the US began to international source for inexpensive loans. blacklist Chinese firms from purchasing US- made semiconductors. Chinese tech firms such Secondly, growing Chinese demand for as Huawei and Alibaba are rising to the affordable consumer products decreases the occasion by producing their own A.I.-powered volume of inexpensive Chinese products chips.120 The Trump administration did not limit available to American consumers. The its efforts to trade, however. consequences of these two realities alone (decreased investment in US treasuries and a In 2016, Trump also pledged to increase the size 121 shortage of affordable consumer products) are of the navy to 350 ships. At the time, the two enough to severely hamper the US economy. big questions on everyone’s mind was, why do But like most scorned ex-partners, the US is also we need the additional ships and how will we engaging in self-destructive behavior that only pay for them? The US 2017 National Security makes the situation worse.

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 32 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

In 2019, the Trump administration increased However, the main problem facing the United tariffs by 25% on some $250 billion in imports States today is not merely financial. While the from China. Of course, China simply offset the US still possesses global power, it lacks impact of the tariffs by allowing its currency to universal legitimacy. If we go back to the idea weaken against the dollar and imposing its own of universality, the Holy Roman Empire enjoyed tariffs. Rather than retaliating with tariffs, the legitimacy as the political head of the universal United States should be focused upon its own (Catholic) church. Its downfall was not the export-driven growth and actively smoothing its result of military or economic ruin (although trade relations with China. Unfortunately, even these definitely played a factor). Rather, the after the promised US-China trade deal signed Holy Roman Empire ultimately failed because in January 2020, the US continues to impose an opposing ideology (Protestantism) robbed it more than $300billion in tariffs on Chinese of its universal legitimacy over Christian 129 imports. Europe.133 One has to question the wisdom of this policy America faces the same problem today. The US given that even many of America’s traditional possesses the military and economic might to allies are developing stronger economic and exercise political control over the entire globe, diplomatic ties with China—it’s simply offering but it is still acting according to a purely them a better deal. John F. Kennedy’s famous nationalist agenda. The problems facing the prediction appears to be coming true: ―if the world today are borderless, and the world United States were to falter, the whole world ... requires a leader that possesses all of America’s would inevitably begin to move toward the hard power combined with the legitimacy of a Communist bloc.‖130 It’s the classic truly universal state. The only way that any one bandwagoning for gain scenario. power can possess universal legitimacy today is As Randall Schweller maintains: ―balancing is if it convinces the international community that driven by the desire to avoid losses; it has solutions for the many problems facing bandwagoning by the opportunity for gain. The the world. Such a power would be more than a presence of a significant external threat, while superpower, or even a hyperpower—it would be required for effective balancing, is unnecessary an uberpower. No more nation-states in the for states to band- wagon.‖131 In other words, traditional Westphalian sense of the word, no China doesn’t have to pose a threat in order for more great power politics—no more nationalism other states to ally with it. Economic realities at all—and hence, no more war. The emergence play just as large a role in multilateral alliances of such a world would first require the demise of as geopolitical considerations—which is exactly the current international order. why states are not currently bandwagoning with the United States despite its superior military REFERENCES and aggressive unilateral posture.As George [1] Howard, Liberation or Catastrophe?: Kennan stated in 1947, "a given proportion of Reflections on the History of the 20th Century, the adherents to the [communist] movement are 2007, p. 12. drawn to it . . . primarily by the belief that it is [2] My position in this regard differs from World the coming thing, the movement of the future . . System theorists, who argue that Rome and . and that those who hope to survive—let alone Han China were examples of world empires. to thrive—in the coming days will be those who See, Wallerstein, The Modern World-System: have the foresight to climb on the Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the 132 European World-Economy in the Sixteenth bandwagon.‖ Century, 1976, pp. 229-233. Obviously, neither JFK nor Kennan had crystal [3] See for example, Rasler and Thompson, balls. They were responding to the Soviet-style ―Global wars, public debts, and the long cycle,‖ communism of their day. However, their 1983; Modelski, Long cycles in world politics, observations are no less salient—states will 1987; Nye, ―The changing nature of world bandwagon for gain, whether it be economic, power,‖ 2004. environmental, developmental or otherwise. [4] Chua, Day of Empire: how hyperpowers rise to Meanwhile, China has been busy playing a real- global dominance--and why they fall, 2009. life version of Monopoly—patiently and [5] See, Wallerstein, The Modern World-System: methodically buying up all of the real estate on Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth the board and beating the West at its own game. Century, 1976, pp. 229-233.

33 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

[6] Wu, et. al., ―Early pottery at 20,000 years ago [33] Schneider and Adalı, ―’No harvest was reaped’: in Xianrendong Cave, China,‖ 2012. demographic and climatic factors in the decline [7] Kramer, The Sumerians, p. 160. of the Neo-Assyrian Empire,‖ 2014. [8] Kramer, The Sumerians, p. 40. [34] Frahm E, A Companion to Assyria, 2017, pp. 161-208; Rogers,A history of Babylonia and [9] Hall and Woolley, Al-Ubaid. Ur Excavations 1, Assyria, 1901, pp.74-79. 1927. [35] Wiesehofer J. Ancient Persia, 2001. [10] Kramer, The Sumerians, p. 29. [36] Pomeroy, et al., Ancient Greece: a political, [11] Bogucki, The origins of human society, 1999, social, and cultural history, 1999, pp. 270-292. pp.234-6. [37] Cary and Scullard, History of Rome: Down to [12] Hole, ―Environmental instabilities and urban the Age of Constantine, 1975. origins,‖ 1994, p. 121. [38] Harper, The fate of Rome: Climate, disease, [13] It is estimated that sea levels rose 10 meters and the end of an empire, 2017. during the Ubaid period. Hole, ―Environmental instabilities and urban origins,‖ 1994, p. 132. [39] Marx, et al., ―Climate and the Decline and Fall of the Western Roman Empire: A Bibliometric [14] Unlike the Ubaid period during which View on an Interdisciplinary Approach to cemeteries were common, no graves from the Answer a Most Classic Historical Question,‖ Uruk period have been discovered. Hole, 2018. ―Environmental instabilities and urban origins,‖ 1994, p. 131. [40] Cary and Scullard, History of Rome: Down to the Age of Constantine, 1975. [15] Bogucki dates the Uruk period c. 4600-3200 BCE, while Hole dates the Early Uruk period [41] Mahan, ―The Persian Gulf and international 4672-3810 and the Late Uruk period 3810- relations,‖ 1902. 3200. Bogucki, The origins of human society, [42] Mackintosh-Smith, Arabs: A 3,000-Year 1999, p. 338. Hole, ―Environmental instabilities History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires, 2019, and urban origins,‖ 1994, p. 122. p. xiii. [16] Mark, ―Sumer.‖ [43] Goldschmidt and Davidson, A concise history [17] Kramer, The Sumerians, p. 284. of the Middle East, 2010. pp. 17-22. [18] Watson, The Evolution of International Society, [44] Miles, The Countries and Tribes of the Persian 2009, p. 29. Gulf, 1923, pp. 22-26. [19] Watson, The Evolution of International Society, [45] Mackintosh-Smith, Arabs: A 3,000-Year 2009, pp. 29-30. History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires, 2019, p. xv-xvi. [20] Mark, ―Sumer.‖ [46] Hanioglu A brief history of the late Ottoman [21] Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, pp. 121-22. Empire, 2008. [22] Weiss, et al., ―The genesis and collapse of third [47] In Arabic, Ridda means apostasy. The tribes millennium north Mesopotamian civilization,‖ that broke with Medina were viewed as 1993. apostates for renouncing Islam. [23] Kramer, The Sumerians, p. 33. [48] Goldschmidt and Davidson, A concise history [24] Goldschmidt, A brief history of Egypt, 2008, p. of the Middle East, 2010. pp. 23-55. 13. [49] Goldschmidt and Davidson, A concise history [25] Curry, ―Artifact Trove at Egyptian Tomb of the Middle East, 2010. pp. 55-96. Illuminates Life Before Pharaohs,‖ 2014. [50] van der Hulst and Smith, ―Tungusic and [26] Goldschmidt, A brief history of Egypt, 2008, p. Mongolian vowel harmony: A minimal pair,‖ 14. 1988. [27] Yadin, ―The Earliest Record of Egypt's Military [51] Golden PB. Central Asia in world history. Penetration into Asia? 1955, pp. 1-5. Oxford University Press; 2011, p. 16. [28] Manning, et al., ―Volcanic suppression of Nile [52] May, The Mongol conquests in world history, summer flooding triggers revolt and constrains 2013, p. 9. interstate conflict in ancient Egypt,‖ 2017. [53] Craughwell, The Rise and Fall of the Second [29] Shaw, The Oxford history of ancient Egypt, Largest Empire in History: How Genghis 2003. Khan’s Mongols Almost Conquered the World, [30] Bleibtreu E. ―Grisly Assyrian record of torture 2010, p. 9. and death,‖ 1991. [54] Mujani, ―The economic decline of Circassian [31] Radner, ―The Assur-Nineveh-Arbela triangle: Mamluks in Egypt,‖ 2011; Cummins, History's central Assyria in the Neo-Assyrian period,‖ Greatest Wars, 2011, pp. 85-94. 2011, p. 321. [55] Quataert, The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, [32] Olmstead, History of Assyria, 1923, p. 77. 2005, pp. 13-36.

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 34 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

[56] Farrar, ―The limits of choice: July 1914 [83] The Third Coalition was comprised of the Holy reconsidered,‖ 1972. Roman Empire, Russia, Britain, Sweden, [57] Hosking, Russian nationalism, past and present, Naples and Sicily. 1998, p. 2. [84] The nations of the Fourth included Britain, [58] Friedman,―The Geopolitics of Russia: Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Saxony and Sicily. permanent struggle,‖2008, pp. 17-18. [85] The Fifth Coalition was composed of Austria, [59] Goldschmidt and Davidson, A concise history Britain, Tyrol, Hungary, Spain, Sicily and of the Middle East, 2010. pp. 151-154. Sardinia. [60] During times of peace, The Montreux [86] The Sixth Coalition initially contained the Convention guarantees the free passage of states of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Britain, civilian vessels through the Turkish Portugal, Sweden, Spain, Sardinia and Sicily. straights.Buzan, ―The status and future of the The Netherlands, Bavaria, Württemberg and Montreux convention,‖ 1976. Baden also later joined the coalition. [61] Deluca, Great Power Rivalry at the Turkish [87] The Seventh Coalition included Austria, Straits: The Montreux Conference and Britain, Brunswick, Denmark, Hanover, Convention of 1936, 1981, pp. 5-8. Liechtenstein, Nassau, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, Sicily, [62] Váli, The Turkish Straits and NATO, 1972, pp. Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tuscany and the 40-41. temporarily restored Bourbon line. [63] Kerner, ―Russia, the Straits, and [88] Gross, ―The Peace of Westphalia 1648-1948,‖ Constantinople, 1914-15,‖ 1929. 1948. [64] Miller and Hine, ―Soviet Carriers in Turkish [89] Walters,A History of the League of Nations, Straits,‖ 1990, p.14. 1952. [65] Larson, Origins of containment: A [90] Senate Historical Office, ―The Treaty of psychological explanation, 1985, p. 203. Versailles,‖ 2019. [66] Churchill, The Second World War: Triumph [91] United Nations, Charter of the United Nations, and Tragedy, Vol. 6, 1953, p. 242. Chapter VII, Article 39, 1945. [67] Grenville, A History of the World from the [92] Pinder, Europe in the world economy 1920- 20th to the 21st Century, 2005, p.47. 1970, 1976, p. 343 [68] Xydis, ―The 1945 crisis over the Turkish [93] Mearsheimer, ―Nuclear weapons and deterrence Straits,‖ 1960. in Europe,‖ 1984. [69] Merrill, ―The Truman doctrine: containing [94] Undeclared Naval War with France (1798- communism and modernity,‖ 2006. 1800); The First Barbary War (1801-05); War [70] Drew, The laws of the Salian Franks, 2012, pp. of 1812 (1812-15); The second Barbary War 5-11. (1815); First Seminole War (1816-18); [71] Barraclough, The crucible of Europe: the ninth Mexican War (1846-48); and literally dozens of and tenth centuries in European history, 1976, armed incursions into foreign territories: pp. 10-13. Mexico (1806, 1836, 1842, 1844); The Gulf of [72] Ganshof,―Charlemagne,‖ 1949. Mexico (1806-1810); West Florida (1810 & 1813); Amelia Island (1812 & 1817); [73] Anderson, "Nationalism and geography," 1986. Marguesas Islands (1813-1814); Spanish [74] Kissinger,Diplomacy, 1994, pp. 56-77. Florida (1814 & 1816-1818); The Caribbean [75] Wilson, Heart of Europe, 2016, p.693-4. (1814-1825); Tripoli (1815); Oregon (1818); [76] Bérenger and Simpson,A history of the Africa (1820-1823, 1843); Cuba (1822-1825); Habsburg empire 1273-1700, 2014, pp. 139- Puerto Rico (1824); Greece (1827); The 154. Falkland Islands (1831-1832); Sumatra (1832 &1838-1839); Argentina (1833, 1852-1853); [77] Levillain and Omalley, The papacy. An Peru (1835-1836); Fiji Islands (1840, 1855, Encyclopedia, 2002, pp. 1517-1519. 1858); Drummond Island (1842); Samoa [78] Gutmann, ―The Origins of the Thirty Years' (1841); China (1843, 1854-1855); Smyrna War,‖ 1988. (1849); Turkey (1851, 1858-1859); Johanns [79] Blanchard, Eminence: Cardinal Richelieu and Island (1851); Nicaragua (1853-1854, 1857); the Rise of France, 2011, p. 6. Japan (1853-1854); Uruguay (1855, 1858); [80] Whaley, Germany and the Holy Roman Panama (1856); Paraguay (1859). See Collier, Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of ―Instances of use of United States forces Westphalia, 1493-1648, 2012, pp. 566-572. abroad, 1798-1993,‖ 1993. [81] Moote, Louis XIII, the Just, 1989, p. 146. [95] Burnett, ―The Edges of Empire and the Limits [82] Doyle, The Oxford history of the French of Sovereignty: American Guano Islands,‖ revolution, 2018, pp. 1-3. 2005.

35 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers

[96] De Leon, ―The Conference at Berlin on the with Europe: foreign loans, the Ottoman Bank West-African Question,‖ 1886. and the Ottoman public debt,‖ 2005; Ferguson [97] Hallett, ―The partition of China,‖ 1898. and Schularick, ―The empire effect: the determinants of country risk in the first age of [98] Mahan, The influence of sea power upon globalization, 1880–1913,‖ 2006. history, 1660-1783, 2013. [116] Darwin,―Imperialism in decline? Tendencies in [99] Seager, ―Ten years before Mahan: the British imperial policy between the wars,‖1980. unofficial case for the New Navy, 1880-1890,‖ [117] Eichengreen, ―From benign neglect to 1953. malignant preoccupation: US balance-of- [100] Herrera, ―The rise and fall of a speculative payments policy in the 1960s,‖ 2000. bubble: geostrategic concerns, public debate [118] Krugman and Lawrence, ―Trade, jobs, and and the promotion of an American trans- wages,‖1993. oceanic canal in the 1820s,‖ 2018. [119] Morrison, ―China’s Economic Rise: History, [101] Etemad. Possessing the World: Taking the Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the Measurements of Colonisation from the 18th to United States,‖ 2019. the 20th Century, 2007, p. 131. [120] McGregor, ―China Has Always Trailed the U.S. [102] Livermore, ―The American Navy as a Factor in in Chipmaking. In the Trade War Era, Will It World Politics, 1903-1913,‖ 1958. Finally Catch Up?‖ 2019. [103] Mitchener andWeidenmier, ―Empire, public [121] Slavin, ―Trump wants 350-ship Navy, but how goods, and the Roosevelt corollary,‖ 2005. and why?‖ 2016. [104] Trani and Davis, ―The End of an Era: Theodore [122] O'Rourke, Navy force structure and Roosevelt and the Treaty of Portsmouth,‖ 2011. shipbuilding plans: Background and issues for [105] Rivlin, ―The United States and Moroccan Congress, 2019. International Status, 1943-1956: A [123] Trump, National security strategy of the United Contributory Factor in Morocco's Reassertion States of America, 2017, p. 21. of Independence from France,‖ 1982. [124] Trump, National security strategy of the United [106] Wallerstein, The decline of American power: States of America, 2017, p. 34. The US in a chaotic world, 2003. [125] Trump, National security strategy of the United [107] Lundestad, ―Empire by Invitation? The United States of America, 2017, p. 3. States and Western Europe, 1945-1952,‖ 1986, p. 265. [126] Roach, Unbalanced: The Codependency of [108] Lundestad, ―Empire by Invitation? The United America and China, 2014. States and Western Europe, 1945-1952,‖ 1986, [127] World Economic Forum, ―Future of pp. 267-268. Consumption in Fast-Growth Consumer [109] Wilber, Regime change in Iran: overthrow of Markets: China,‖ 2018. premier Mossadeq of Iran, November 1952- [128] China’s total debt (corporate, household and August 1953, 2006, pp. 15-18. government) reached 303% of GDP in the first [110] Moye, ―The United States Intervention in quarter of 2019. Asia Economics and Markets Guatemala,‖ 1998. Desk, ―China's debt tops 300% of GDP, now [111] See for example, Brooks andWohlforth, World 15% of global total: IIF,‖ 2019. out of balance: international relations and the [129] Williams-Grut, ―US Treasury Secretary: Phase challenge of American primacy, 2008, p. 63. 2 China deal may not be 'big bang,'‖ 2020. [112] Lane, ―The European sovereign debt crisis,‖ 2012. [130] Quoted in Brown, The Faces of Power, 1968, p. [113] Gärtner, et. al., ―PIGS or lambs? The European 217. sovereign debt crisis and the role of rating [131] Schweller, ―Bandwagoning for profit: Bringing agencies,‖ 2011. the revisionist state back in,‖ 1994, p.74. [114] Jago, ―The influence of debt on the relations [132] Quoted in Jervis, "Domino beliefs and strategic between Crown and aristocracy in seventeenth- behavior," 1991, p. 33. century Castile,‖ 1973. [133] Pfaff and Corcoran, ―Piety, power, and the [115] Velde and Weir, ―The financial market and purse: religious economies theory and urban government debt policy in France, 1746–1793,‖ reform in the Holy Roman Empire,‖ 2012. 1992; Eldem, ―Ottoman financial integration

Citation: Dr. John Maszka. “Superpowers, Hyperpowers and Uberpowers“, International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies, 7(10), 2020, pp. 18-36. Copyright: © 2020 Dr. John Maszka. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V7 ● I10 ● 2020 36